Radcliffe Heavyweights Finish Second Against Top Out-of-Region Competition

The Radcliffe varsity eight posted two wins against Clemson and finished just behind the No. 4 Buckeyes.

COLUMBUS, Ohio—The No. 14 Radcliffe heavyweight crew placed second in each of its six races against top out-of-region competition at Saturday's regatta featuring five of the nation's top 19 teams at Ohio State.

The Black and White varsity eight (9-6) hung with its highest-ranked foes in narrow losses to the No. 4 Buckeyes in their morning race and to No. 3 Michigan in the afternoon on the Scioto River at Griggs Reservoir. The order of finish was the same in the two second varsity eight and two varsity four events, as Radcliffe topped No. 19 Clemson in all six races.

The morning and afternoon races were rowed on the same course but in differing conditions. The OSU varsity finished off a morning session characterized by a head wind and moderately choppy water by edging Radcliffe by less than 1.4 seconds, while the Black and White's time of 6:41.89 was seven seconds faster than the Tigers' mark.

Radcliffe finished far ahead of Clemson in its other morning races. The second varsity eight topped the Tigers by more than 11 seconds in 6:58.47, and the four beat them by more than 12 in 7:47.69. Ohio State won each race by about nine seconds.

Following a lunchtime hail storm, a tailwind picked up, along with the speed of the boats, in the afternoon. The Black and White second varsity eight was up first and finished more than 13 seconds ahead of third-place Clemson in 6:36.86. The Radcliffe and Michigan fours raced seat-for-seat down the course, with the Wolverines finally winning by less than two seconds in 7:22.74. The Tigers were another 10 seconds back.

The Wolverines' varsity won the final race by 5.63 seconds. Radcliffe placed second in 6:23.91, about 13 seconds ahead of Clemson.

Back home on the Charles River, the varsity four B and C boats and the third varsity eight defeated boats from the Radcliffe lightweight second varsity and the Boston University and Northeastern heavyweight squads. In both fours races, the Radcliffe heavyweights and lightweights took the first two spots, respectively. The Radcliffe B four won a close race, while the C four topped the field by nearly 40 seconds.